The Jenova Project
by SeventhDream
Summary: Jack must uncover his past and protect Gaia from certain destruction.


Author's Note: This is a Final Fantasy fic. Meteor has all ready come and gone, and someone has taken over Shinra. There's GF, monsters everywhere, Garden, basically everything Final Fantasy. Enjoy!   
  
Jack hung his chocobo saddle on the wooden stall door. The smell of fresh hay and chocobo manure filled his nose. He could do this all day, and for a simple reason; Jack loved chocobos.   
  
Whether it was riding chocobos, breeding them, or even cleaning the stalls, chocobos were his life. Everyday after he came home from his high school in Kalm town, he would go into his back yard and groom Neptune, his five year old chocobo.   
  
Jack picked up another bail of hay, and grunted in an attempt to move it to the next stall.   
  
On the weekends, Jack would ride Neptune to his grandfather's ranch, no less than ten kilometers away. There he would work on the farm, raising and socializing the younger chocobos. And of course, cleaning the stalls.   
  
"Ugh, this is so gross!" Blair McKenzie groaned as he shoveled yet another pile of manure into the cart.   
  
"You don't have to get paid, ya know!" Jack said sarcastically. "But thanks for helping me out this weekend. The Barn is housing six more chocobos than usual because of the races this month."   
  
Once a year, chocobo jockies from all over the world come to Midgar, a massive city two hours away from Kalm, for the Midgar Chocobo Challenge. The new president of Shinra Incorporated, the Midgar government, had an unusual obsession with chocobos.   
  
"Yeah, no problem Jack." Blair replied, his one piece of long, brown hair waving across his tanned face.   
  
"So what's Gabriel up to?" Jack asked as he shoveled the last of the chocobo manure into the cart. He let the shovel lean against the wooden wall of the stall, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.   
  
"I think he went to Midgar with his step-brother to buy that new materia he's been talking about so much." Blair explained. "You know Gabriel and his magic!"   
  
"Yeah, I do." Jack said with a laugh. "Ok, I think we're done for now. Let's go get something to eat."   
  
Blair's face lit up. "Finally! I'm starving."   
  
They left the barn, hay crunching under their feet.   
  
Gabriel Saumed, Jack and Blair's other best friend, was very much into magic. He spent hours everyday practicing with his materia, or studying the relationship between magic and science; his other passion.   
  
As Blair and Jack headed for the house, they stopped for a moment to breathe in the fresh, non-chocobo poop air. Jack sat down on the thick, green grass and watched the grazing chocobos from the small hill he was on. As soon as he sat down, a baby yellow chocobo ran up to him.   
  
"Hey there, Lumina!" Jack said with a smile on his face. Whenever he was with a chocobo, any chocobo, his mood immediately lifted, whether he was mad or not. Jack scratched Lumina behind her ears; her favourite spot.   
  
"Kweh!" she responded happily.   
  
Lumina, like every other chocobo, was essentially a large bird. Although she was only two feet tall, most chocobos grew to be at least five, not including their elongated necks. Lumina's bright yellow feathers were perfectly in place, thanks to Jack's skilled grooming. Even her tail feathers, which stuck out in the same manner as a peacock's, were in a perfect fan, indicating her happiness.   
  
"There you go again," Blair complained. "Off in your own little world with that bird. What's so great about chocobos anyway?"   
  
Jack grinned. "It's hard to explain. When I'm with them, it's like everything is ok."   
  
Blair gave a small grunt. "Well, I'll leave you two alone." Jack shot him a glare. "Joking! I'll see you back at the house." He headed across the field, his broad shoulders giving him a football-player-on-a-mission-for-food look.   
  
Jack stared off into the distance. Lumina nudged him with her stout, orange beak. He put his hand on her neck and rubbed it gently. His gelled, brown hair stayed exactly in place through the slight breeze.   
  
"It's like I'm home," he said quietly.   
  
The baby chocobo answered with a soft "kweh," and then returned to her mother.   
  
Author's Note: Ok, so that was the first chapter. I know it's slow, but next chapter something will actually happen ok? Thanks for reading, review please!^.^ 


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